Robin's Tech Tips

Making a poster, creating a model, or drawing a picture all help increase activity in the brain by having students take information in one form and transform it into another. Classroom Instruction that Works indicates that using nonlinguistic representations achieved a 27 percentile gain  As a history teacher I also found those assignments more enjoyable to grade than essays where they students copied information from books and online resources without ever thinking about what they were writing.

So how to make use of this technique using technology?  One way is Glogster.

What is Glogster EDU?

Glogster EDU is the educational version of the Glogster site.  Teachers and students can design interactive posters that incorporate artwork, videos, music, links to other websites, wordles, etc.

Sample Math Glog:

Teachers are given 100 free student accounts to allow students to create their own glogs under the teacher's account.  User names and passwords are automatically generated and sent to the teacher's account.

Finished products can be embedded into wikis, webpages, or teacherweb sites using the provided html embed code.  You can also link to the glog itself.

The site provides background templates and frames to get you started in all sorts of themes.

See this glog on Glogster EDU for more info: http://thilby.edu.glogster.com/glogsteredu/

(Warning - make sure you are using the EDU version for your students.  Glogs found on the original site may not be suitable for all audiences.)

Getting Started:

If you are ready to try this resource out, go to http://edu.glogster.com/register/ and register for an account.

For a step by step tutorial check out - Glogster Tutorial Page - by Traci Blazosky

Uses in the Classroom:

• Create a glog as the homepage for a class project with all the info.


• Using a projector use the glog as a the home base for your lesson or discussion in class.


• replace traditional poster board projects with a glog


• group images together to set the tone for a historical unit or a novel's setting


• gather all the notes together for a math concept so the formulas and examples are all in one place.


• Create a glog to replace a research paper. (If they are copying all the info from online anyway - why not show them how to link to those sources and write a summary that introduces the link?)

Sample Glog for To Kill a Mockingbird:

Resources:

• Hooked on Glogster by Brenda Dyck